2016
Publication Year
2020-05-21T15:24:48Z
Acceptance in OA@INAF
Photometric properties of Comet 67P/CG as seen by VIRTIS-M onboard Rosetta:
light curves and disk-integrated phase curves
Title
CIARNIELLO, Mauro; CAPACCIONI, FABRIZIO; FILACCHIONE, GIANRICO;
RAPONI, Andrea; DE SANCTIS, MARIA CRISTINA; et al.
Authors
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/25057
Handle
MEMORIE DELLA SOCIETA ASTRONOMICA ITALIANA
Journal
87
Number
Mem. S.A.It. Vol. 87, 167
c
SAIt 2016 Memoriedella
Photometric properties of Comet 67P/CG as
seen by VIRTIS-M onboard Rosetta: light curves
and disk-integrated phase curves
M. Ciarniello, F. Capaccioni, G. Filacchione, A. Raponi,
M.C. De Sanctis, F. Tosi, M.T. Capria, G. Piccioni, P. Cerroni,, E. Palomba,
A. Longobardo, A. Migliorini, and Rosetta VIRTIS team
INAF-IAPS, Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Area di Ricerca di Tor Vergata, via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
Abstract.
VIRTIS-M is the Visible InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Rosetta Mission orbiter (Coradini et al. 2007) devoted to investigate the spectrophotometric properties of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the 0.25-5.1 µm spectral range. Here we present data acquired during the first observations of the comet, starting from mid-July 2014, when the spacecraft-target distance was approximately 13000 km and the comet nucleus as seen by the instrument was pixel-size, up to more recent acquisitions in which the surface was resolved (Ciarniello et al. 2015). The far-approach data have allowed us to produce both light curves of the nucleus at different solar phase angles and disk-integrated phase curves over the entire instru-ment spectral range within the 1.2◦− 14.9◦phase angle interval. The light curve is characterized
by two asymmetric peaks due to the elongated, e.g. double-lobed, shape of the nucleus. The disk-integrated phase curves exhibit a back -scattering behavior and a well defined surge at low phase angle due to the Shadow Hiding Opposition Effect. The derived geometric albedo at 0.55 µm is
Ageo= 0.062 ± 0.002. Dependence of color ratios on rotational phase and phase angle will be dis-cussed in order to exploit large scale surface compositional variations. We also present a retrieval of the main photometric parameters by means of Hapke model (Hapke 1993) from analysis of disk-resolved images. The derived single scattering albedo at 0.55 µm is w = 0.052 while the asymmetry parameter of the single particle phase function is b = −0.42. These values indicate a very dark and back-scattering surface, common also to other comets (Li et al. 2007a,b, 2009, 2013). Hapke photometric parameters have been used to perform the photometric correction of the whole investigated dataset and albedo maps of the nucleus have been produced in the visible and infrared range. Albedo appears fairly ho mogeneous across the surface with Api and Imothep regions showing relatively larger values. Color maps have been produced as well, indicating that Api region has a more neutral spectral slope with respect to the rest of the surface.
168 Ciarniello et al.: Photometric properties of Comet 67P/CG from Rosetta/VIRTIS-M
References
Ciarniello, M., Capaccioni, F., Filacchione, G., et al. 2015, A&A, 583, 31 Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Drossart, P., et al., 2007, Space Sci. Rev., 128, 529
Hapke, B. 1993, Theory of reflectance and emittance spectroscopy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK)
Li, J.-Y., A’Hearn, M. F., Belton, M. J. S., et al. 2007a, Icarus, 187, 41
Li, J.-Y., A’Hearn, M. F., McFadden, L. A., & Belton, M. J. S 2007b, Icarus, 188, 195 Li, J.-Y., A’Hearn, M. F., Farnham, T. L., & McFadden, L. A. 2009, Icarus, 204, 209 Li, J.-Y., Besse, S., A’Hearn, M. F., et al. 2013, Icarus, 222, 559
